Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) says volumes of general cargo such as motor vehicles and dry bulk freight exceeded expectations and helped its $20.5 million profit for the financial year to June 31, 2015.
The previous year’s profit was $343 million, but this figure included a large insurance payout relating to the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.
The port company reported lower revenue of $109.1 million a drop from $115.8 million in the previous corresponding financial period.
LPC will use $440 million from an insurance settlement for port redevelopment to get the facilities back to pre-earthquake levels over the next four to five years.
Chief executive Peter Davie told Stuff the company had a good trading year despite the loss of container volumes due to a competitor port winning a multimillion-dollar contract to export milk product from Fonterra’s Clandeboye factory.
General cargo volumes exceeded the ports expectations says Davies, and particularly dry bulk freight and motor vehicles.
